Crimson2-Edge of Sanity

[I - The forbidden words] [Ii - Incantation] [Iii - Passage of time] [Iv - The silent threat] [V - Archilles heel] [Vi - Covenant of souls] [Vii - Face to face] [Viii - Disintegration] [Ix - Aftermath] Let no man breach the gate to this most blasphemous of halls Lest bitterness and chaos be the harvest they wouldst reap He must n'er become a slave to this Child's beck and call For she must never waken from her Crimson Sleep.. The monastery stood towering above the ruined city It shadowed all the new emerging settlements and homes To look down on the ruins was to sympathize and pity All the suffering and heartache, all the graves and broken bones For buried there a testament to the evil of a queen A misery that spread across a weak and stricken land The crimson birth that swamped the earth in dark and deadly dreams And all mankind did bow beneath the power of her hand And in the monastery garden sat a woman with a book A manuscript that lay within her frail and trembling arms She looked around her nervously as guilt rose in her heart But the sway of curiosity had drawn her out too far She wavered on the threshold of a dangerous decision For this dark tome was no for human eyes to ever read The pages dripped with legions of persuasive words and visions So the volume had been hidden well, but now it had been freed For no apparent reason had the woman been drawn in Perhaps it was a twist of fate, an absence of real thought She wandered to a room that before she'd never been And all at once the interest of her senses had been caught For no apparent reason had the women been drawn in Where rows of dusty books lay in an ominous display But one ancient leather binding had the grain of human skin And seized with curiosity she stole this book away And now she sat alone in the concealment of the night She was hungry now to liberate the writings from their cage The glimmer of a feeble moon provided her with light As she opened up the cover and began to read the page Fly, soul, the body's guest, Upon your impish arrant Let none be guiled by false confession Truth shall be your warrant Fly soul for your body must die But for those who seek eternity For those who yearn prosperity From this single act of sanity Will raise you far above humanity Oh willing host who doth not know The full desire of this prisoner You walk where angels fear to go Thou shalt soon embrace the reckoner Thy halo of glory, hope's true gage May prove to be an evil pilgrimage Something had happened beyond her control A moment of madness unfettered a soul That would relish a freedom denied once before By a desperate nation with it's back to the wall Within a split second of reading this text The spirit was free and had fled from it's nest It was eager to grow from this sudden reprieve And thus in the woman a life was conceived From the beginning the world was misled As a baby was born in a monastery bed The miracle happening here on this Earth Was perceived as a glorious new Virgin Birth From the moment in time that baby was born The sun did now rise on a new Crimson dawn And the creature just bided it's time undiscovered So safe in the cradling arms of the mother [Lead: Dan] But for those who seek eternity For those who yearn prosperity From this single act of sanity Will raise you far above humanity Secure from the world, the child remained hidden A serpent disguised in the Garden of Eden And all who looked down on this newly born babe Were ignorant now of the path this would take The people were blind to the subtle control That was exercised daily upon every soul With no room to question this delicate life All fears would be drowned and all doubts would be stifled But one single mind did stand out from the crowd Though quiet at first - with hardly a sound The Mother Superior harbored suspicion Brought to her heart by three simple vision [The Visions:] The first was a planet engulfed by the sea No dry land in sight, not a mountain or tree No rock jutted out from the endless horizon Or flowers to mark out the changing of seasons No animals dwelt in the forests or fields All life was extinct; it's fate had been sealed By the curse of a violent unstoppable flood Mankind had been drowned in an ocean of blood The next revelation was vivid and cruel It depicted two swordsmen engrossed in a duel The one held a sword that was silver and pure The other a sword that was red to the core They fought as the sun rose high in the sky Their fight would not end until one of them died No room did they have for an error to make For the future of life was the trophy at stake But one of the warriors flouted the rules And with cunning and guile had the other one fooled As he held up his hands in a gesture of peace The silver opponent allowed this retreat Then the man with the red sword attacked from behind Left the silver sword fighter defeated and blind Then carnage ensued that no man could condone As the bloody red blade sliced through sinew and bone All day did the swordsman attack without halt Though the other lay dead from the frenzied assault Until by the twilight and all that remained Were the echoes of death and a fresh crimson stain And so came the third of these unyielding visions A picture of war and ferocious divisions An army of saviors marching as one Aware that the end had already begun They arrived in a field, which was wide and expansive They waited in silence both ready and pensive The grassland was strewn with small crimson petals Their fragrance was sweet with the stench of the devil And slowly but surely they fell into sleep Their consciousness gone as they slumped in defeat And there they still lie bereft of their willpower Brought to their knees by the strength of a flower The three visions, the Mother Superior bore A bitter forewarning of what was in store This infant so frail must not grow to be strong The world was at risk if she waited too long So veiled by the blackness of night she did creep And enter where mother and child were both asleep And onwards she moved to where the crib lay She leant over the baby and started to pray She prayed for forgiveness for what she would do She prayed that the knife in her hand would aim true But all of a sudden she was now paralyzed The baby daughter had opened her eyes [Lead: Mike] And into those eyes, the woman gazed The look in her face was both haunted and crazed She was smothered and swamped in confusion and sadness The first to be gripped by this foul crimson madness This brutal psychosis could not be explained No one single cause was suggested or blamed But no one could think that a child was involved And the mystery illness remained unresolved So all seemed as normal for seven short years A veil of deception dissolved any fears But there was one lapse in the child's disguise And that could be seen in the depths of her eyes The message could clearly be discovered there In the glimpse of the universe found in her stare Her gaze hypnotic, unbearably strong Suspicions were growing, it wouldn't be long Oh willing host who doth not know The full desire of this prisoner You walk where angels fear to go Thou shalt soon embrace the reckoner Now and then a question would be raised Strong misgivings threatened to be voiced But these were judgments wiser not to say To doubt the child could prove to be a rash and deadly choice By now the Crimson reign had proved too much The monastery was shadowed under dread But fear decreed that hostile thoughts be crushed For the creature had the power to crawl inside your head The mother in her darkest moment knew The time had come for action to be taken A journey must be made to hidden truths She must return and read again the book she had forsaken This tome presented many further views Essential rules of power were revealed And thus the pages offered up one clue The child bore one significant Archilles Heel Should the Crimson Queen be blinded, then powerless she'll be Bereft of piercing vision, her victims will be free Salvation lies in banishing this creature to the dark Let not your hand be hesitant or death will be your mark Lest regained sight should speed her flight away from burning hell A steady heart must seal her back within her crimson cell And thou who didst release this most vindictive enemy Must serve to be her warder there for all eternity One quiet night the lady traveled out beyond the monastery Her quest was one of urgency and human preservation She traveled with companions to reach the ruined city Where lay the means to save her kind, a path to their salvation When there they searched for evidence of where the Queen once slept And came upon a gateway, which was tightly closed and barred A stark inscription warned them of the risk of their next step But choices were no more; they had already come too far Let no man breach the gate to this most blasphemous of halls Lest bitterness and chaos be the harvest they wouldst reap He must n'er become a slave to this Child's beck and call For she must never waken from her Crimson Sleep: [Lead: Mike] With fresh resolve the women carried on towards their goal And found themselves a cell where crimson shade were scattered A sight so dreadful it chilled their very souls The cell had long been drained and all around the glass lay shattered A movement in the shadows A flash of blazing light The child stood before them With murder in her eyes The women ran towards her To try to stem the tide Of purse and crimson anger There was nowhere left to hide Too slow was their reaction They were thrown back off their feet Their throats were filled with panic As they stared as harsh defeat Too weak was their protection They couldn't staunch the trail Of vitriol and vengeance Meted out for this betrayal So the mother's brave compatriots Consumed with damning pain Died writhing in the dirt They were bleeding and insane They'd looked into the child's eyes And crumbled in despair From images too hideous For human minds to bear Salvation lies in banishing This creature to the dark Let not your hand be hesitant Or death will be your mark" But there was still one single hope No room for fear or doubt The mother knew there was no choice She had to end this now She crawled across the bloodstained ground Her eyes averted from the steely glare But secretly she knew she'd found A way beyond this nightmare [Lead: Simon/Mike] A few more seconds spanned the path Between success or damnation Mankind would face the aftermath speed Of this deadly confrontation Got to strike for the eyes Leave the monster running blind Go to cross the line Got to strike for those unforgiving eyes She veiled herself with trivial thought A mask of insignificance Her daughter failed to see beyond The fabric of irrelevance For a moment they were face to face No sign of what was soon to be But still her mind refused to break Those thoughts must not be seen Got to strike for the eyes Leave the monster running blind Go to cross the line Got to strike for those unforgiving eyes [Lead: Simon] Striking hard, striking fast in desperation The world around is filled with shades of red Forced to stand in weak anticipation As rivulets of blood run down the Child's head The chamber fills with screams of violent rage Of petulance and impotent frustration Consumed with frenzied tidal waves of hate The princess falls to earth in dark sedation Her blindness stunts the growth of nascent power That grows within her like some poisonous flower The blade of darkness strikes her to the hilt And so the flower inside begins to wilt But time is short for action to be taken No chance to dwell on pity or mistakes No chance for dark excuses to be found The moment of Salvation must be now! Cast me to the crimson flames Thou hast the power should I be blind To overthrow my wicked reign And throw me to the pit of time Cast me to the crimson flames Thou shalt bar the doors of hell Incant these words of sacred rule Seal me in my crimson cell [Lead: Dan] And thus was read the incantation Voices echoed round and round The woman smiled in weak elation Mesmerized inside the sounds [Lead: Dan] And with these chants of higher lore So mortal flesh began to fade Soon child and mother were no more Their earthly bodies now decayed Cast me to the crimson flames Thou shalt bar the doors of hell Incant these words of sacred rule Seal me in my crimson cell [Lead: Mike] And still inside the chamber stands A single cell with crimson hue Resealed by spoken word of Man Imbued with power from spiritual Truth Two souls imprisoned for eternity Light and dark forever bound Two souls that never can be freed A pathway back will not be found For trapped beyond some foolish reach And far away from prying eyes No channel now to lead or preach No chance to influence or guide The final sacrifice she took Ensured the hope of the human race And thus she holds the sacred book A captive in her crimson space Lest bitterness and chaos be the harvest they wouldst reap For she must never waken from this Crimson Sleep [Lead: Dan]